Ramlogan on “Camp Re-route’s” demolition

June 28, 2012:

Government is not prepared to tolerate “unlawful nonsense”.

Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan made the statement in light of the demolition of the Highway Re-route Movement’s camp in Debe on Wednesday.

Speaking with journalists after the opening ceremony of the 16th Meeting of CARICOM's Legal Affairs Committee, Ramlogan expressed, "yesterday was an important day to demonstrate that Government is not prepared to tolerate illegal and unlawful nonsense."

Asked whether the National Security's Minister's actions were in breach of the separation of powers, Ramlogan replied it was not. "I saw the Chief of the Defense Staff there, present on site."

He added that he believed that the crux of the matter was not being addressed.

"I think what no one has addressed is whether the presence of the protesters on State Lands was in the first place legal and lawful.  That really is the critical issue that needs to be addressed and that must be the starting point for any discussion that we have on this matter," Ramlogan said.

The Attorney General advised that society must be careful not to encourage lawless since "lawlessness cannot be allowed to flourish if we are to meaningfully advance and solve the crime problem".

Ramlogan said he advised Warner on what was lawful in dealing with the situation when he (Warner) was Minister of Works and Infrastructure.

He said that allowing the protest to continue could have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees and in compensation for breach of contract by the developer and contractor. 

He also explained that if the construction was allowed to be blocked, Trinidad and Tobago could have been opened to having to repay to the Organization of American States the money for the Point Fortin highway project.